Early coaching career

Crawford was named a playing assistant coach with Fredericton during the 1987–88 season. During the 1988–89 season Crawford joined the Milwaukee Admirals as an assistant coach.^[5] He became a head coach in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Cornwall Royals, for whom he had previously played in the QMJHL. After two seasons with Cornwall, Crawford moved to the AHL, and in his first season with the St. John's Maple Leafs, he took his team to the 1992 Calder Cup finals, losing to the Adirondack Red Wings. The following season, Crawford was awarded the Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL's coach of the year.^[6]

In 1994–95, Crawford broke into the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques and as a result of the Nordiques' improved play, he won the NHL's Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. He is the youngest NHL coach and first rookie coach in history to win the Jack Adams.^[5] The next season, the Nordiques franchise was relocated to Colorado as the Avalanche, and Crawford won his first and only Stanley Cup as a coach in 1996, defeating the Florida Panthers in four games in the finals.^[6]

Crawford continued to post successful regular seasons with the Avalanche in the next two seasons, but after an early first-round exit in the 1998 playoffs, he resigned on May 27, 1998. Despite reportedly being offered a one-year contract extension by general manager Pierre Lacroix, Crawford decided to "move on and accept a new challenge".^[7]

Before his resignation with the Avalanche, Crawford was also the head coach of the Canadian Olympic hockey team at the 1998 Olympics, where they finished a disappointing fourth. Many questioned his choice of players to take part in the semi-final shootout with the Czech Republic, in which they lost, electing not to use future Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky or Steve Yzerman.^[8]

Vancouver Canucks

After a brief stint as a colour commentator on Hockey Night in Canada,^[5] Crawford replaced Mike Keenan as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks midway through the 1998–99 season.^[9] Joining Vancouver in the midst of a rebuilding period for the franchise, Crawford slowly developed the Canucks into a successful regular season team, playing a fast-paced and offensively emphasized style of play. After one-and-a-half seasons, he led Vancouver back to the playoffs. However, the Canucks were defeated in the first round by his former team, Colorado.

In 2002–03, Vancouver continued to improve under Crawford and posted a franchise record (since surpassed) of 104 points. The following season, they took the Northwest Division title from the Avalanche, who had finished first in their division every season since they won the Northeast Division during their last season playing in Quebec. Despite Vancouver's regular season success, they only managed to win one playoff series during Crawford's tenure. After the Canucks' failure to make the playoffs in the 2005–06 season, Crawford's position as head coach was terminated by management on April 25, 2006.^[4] He was replaced by Alain Vigneault.^[10]

In six-and-a-half seasons' work with the Canucks, Crawford marked himself as the longest-serving and winningest head coach in franchise history at the time of his exit, coaching 529 games and 246 wins. On February 3, 2006, one of his last games in Vancouver, he also became the third-youngest head coach in NHL history to reach 400 wins. At 48 years and 342 days, this mark trails only Scotty Bowman and Glen Sather.^[11]

Later years

Nearly one month after being fired by Vancouver, Crawford was hired by the Los Angeles Kings, a team in a similar situation to that of the Canucks when Crawford first joined them. On June 10, 2008, Crawford was fired by the Kings, although he had one year remaining on his initial contract.^[12][13] He lasted only two years with the Kings, who thought a change was necessary in the coaching position. During his two seasons with the Kings, he missed the playoffs both times.^[14]

During the 2008–09 season, Crawford did colour commentary for Hockey Night in Canada late games alongside play-by-play announcer Mark Lee.^{[15][16][17][18]}

A year after being fired from the Los Angeles Kings, Crawford was hired by Dallas Stars general manager Joe Nieuwendyk to replace previous head coach Dave Tippett.^[19] The Stars fired Crawford on April 12, 2011, two days after the Stars' loss to the Minnesota Wild in the last game of the season, which ultimately cost the team the opportunity to capture the eighth playoff berth in the Western Conference. Crawford's tenure again only lasted two seasons.^[20]

In mid-2012, Crawford was named the new coach of the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League A, having signed a two-year contract. He won the NLA championship with the Lions in the 2013–14 season. In March 2014, he signed a two-year contract extension.^[21] In early 2015, Crawford was responsible for convincing coveted draft prospect Auston Matthews to sign and play with the Lions for the 2015–16 season.^[22] Crawford was awed by Matthews' play during the 2015 U18 Championships and contacted Matthews' family and agent about a contract. Crawford would lead the Lions to winning the 2016 Swiss Cup.^[23] Crawford left ZSC when his contract expired in 2016.^[24] Besides winning the 2014 Swiss championship and 2016 Swiss Cup, he also guided the Lions to three NLA regular season championship titles, in 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2016, following the hiring of Guy Boucher, Crawford was hired as associate coach for the Ottawa Senators.^[25] On March 1, 2019, Crawford became the interim head coach of the Senators following the firing of Guy Boucher for the rest of the 2018–19 season going 7–10–1.^[26] D. J. Smith was then hired as the Senators head coach for the 2019–20 season.^[27]

On June, 4, 2019 the Chicago Blackhawks announced Crawford as an assistant coach to Jeremy Colliton.^[28] Colliton was fired by the Blackhawks during the 2021–22 season, but Crawford was retained as an assistant to interim-coach Derek King for the remained of the season. In May 2022, Crawford was let go by the Blackhawks with a year remaining on his contract.^[29]

In December 2022, Crawford returned to Switzerland and the ZSC Lions, replacing fired coach Rikard Grönborg.^[30] In February 2023, Crawford was suspended for a game after an investigation by the National League into whether he had directed a homophobic slur at a referee.^[31]

Regular season and playoffs

International